LIVE REVIEW: Nightlands

by / Tiffany Tso

Nightlands is Philadelphia’s Dave Hartley, who first came on the radar as War on Drugs’ bassist. This project came about a few years ago when Hartley began recording ideas that came to him in his sleep, which has yielded Nightlands a number of descriptors like “dreamy” and “haunting.” Hartley’s method of recording, which includes recording his own voice over and over again and playing them over one another a gazillion times, easily blankets his music in a sea of dreamy, haunting sound.

However, after watching Nightlands live (at Mercury Lounge) with an obviously stripped down sound, his songs’ genres jump around from indie-poppy to folksy to power ballady. And throughout the show, I couldn’t help but think the music would be much better enjoyed outside in a field, or jamming out around a campfire, rather than on a stage surrounded by the oppressive black walls of a venue. Five backup singers and his three bandmates took the place of the endless loop of Hartleys, creating a more choral sound.

Nightlands is now on tour in support of the latest album Oak Island, which is out now on Secretly Canadian.